MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently upheld an order passed by a single judge striking down a G.O. passed on February 5, 2025, reducing the enhanced pension and family pension of government doctors who retired before October 2009.
Dismissing a batch of appeals filed by the government against the single judge’s order dated December 16, 2025, a bench of justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel observed that while the above GO was claimed to have been passed under Rule 56 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978, which permitted such revision in case of any clerical error, there was no corresponding amendment to the rules providing for deprivation of pension even after the pension had been sanctioned.
“Though it could be stated that the government is waiving recovery, still reduction of pension is deprivation and there can never be such deprivation except under the authority of law,” they added. Moreover, the government can never take away a part of the pension under the umbrella of a GO, which has no statutory value, they observed.
They further rejected the government’s claim that the financial commitment for the existing pensioners is Rs 300 crore and called it an imaginary figure. “It is not a question of mere reduction of pension, but the hurt caused owing to degradation of the services rendered by them.
Their services rendered to hundreds and thousands of patients should be recognised and should not be just washed away by citing other financial commitment by the government,” the judges said and refused to interfere with the single judge’s order striking down the GO.
The single judge had passed the order on a batch of petitions filed by nearly 140 retired government doctors and their legal heirs, challenging the above GO which was issued to cancel another GO dated July 12, 2018, through which the petitioners’ pension had been enhanced by the government.
Petition seeking FIR against min withdrawn
Chennai: A petition praying for registration of an FIR against Finance Minister Marie Wilson over his statement on giving bribes during the previous regime regarding approvals for his school, was withdrawn on Monday. Referring to the revelation of the minister in the Assembly on August 24 that he had paid bribes for the approvals for his school, the petitioner stated that paying bribe is an offence as much as accepting bribe.
HC tells Tasmac not to finalise buyback bids
Chennai: The Madras HC on Monday temporarily restrained the Tasmac from finalising the tender for single-system, operator-based revised empty bottle buyback scheme. Justice N Senthilkumar issued the interim order on Monday while hearing a petition filed against the tender floated by Tasmac under the revised buyback scheme. However, the judge permitted the corporation to complete the process of opening the bids.
